CONS

Verdict

This sharply-styled city car is the all-new Toyota Aygo, a direct replacement for the nine-year old outgoing model of the same name.

As before, the Aygo is a joint venture with two French manufacturers to produce their city cars. These are the Citroen C1 and Peugeot 108 and the Japanese firm was responsible for all the engineering and mechanical components for the trio. The Toyota Aygo also features unique bodywork to help it stand out from the other two.

All-new range

Dominating the look of the new Toyota Aygo is the contrasting coloured ‘X’ across the nose of the car, leading up towards the side windows. This is part of Toyota’s aim to make the Aygo appeal to a younger clientele as the ‘X’ and various other elements of the car’s exterior and interior design can be customised.

Three- and five-door versions of the Aygo are available, and while the full glass tailgate continues, it provides access to a deeper boot than before.

Much better interior

The interior design is shared with the Aygo’s sister cars and represents a significant leap over the older models’ back-to-basics approach, especially when fitted with the seven-inch colour ‘X-Touch’ infotainment screen. All the plastics are firm and resilient, but they feel well-assembled and are interestingly-styled.

That X-theme continues with the five Aygo specification grades available from launch: X, X-Play, X-Pression and two special editions known as X-Cite and X-Clusiv.

Better and more efficient to drive

Under the new Toyota Aygo’s bonnet is an improved version of the 1.0-litre, three-cylinder petrol motor that the old model was powered by.

Producing 68bhp and just 95Nm of torque, performance is adequate, and fine for city use. Combined with the light sub-one tonne body, Toyota claims it will average 68.9mpg with the manual gearbox, emitting just 95g/km of CO2 in the process.

A five-speed manual transmission is standard, while an automated gearbox, known as X-Shift, is available on certain five-door models.

Currently there are no plans for a diesel or sporty version of the Aygo.

Ride and handling have been improved considerably over the old model, with greater steering accuracy and a more comfortable experience for all four occupants.

Updates in 2015

Despite only going on sale in 2014, Toyota brought new technology and trim levels to the Aygo barely a year later.

Firstly it offered the x-wave canvas roof as an option on the five-door x-pression trim, and then added the x-pure and updated x-cite special editions.

Finally the Toyota Safety Sense suite of crash prevention technology seen on other models was added to the Aygo and also the Yaris as an optional extra.

Read on for the full Parkers Toyota Aygo review to see how we rate the newcomer.